Folic acid and the prevention of neural tube defects: A position paper of the national society of genetic counselors

Considerable scientific evidence demonstrates the reduction in risk for neural tube defects (NTDs) associated with maternal preconceptional folic acid supplementation. The National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) endorses the U.S. Public Health Service recommendations for folic acid supplementation at the 0.4 mg level for women in the general population and at the 4.0 mg level for women at high or increased risk for NTD pregnancies for at least 4 weeks prior to active pursuit of conception. We encourage targeted educational efforts and surveillance to assess results of this dietary supplementation. The NSGC further urges the Food and Drug Administration to fortify staple foodstuffs with folic acid for a population-based approach to minimize the number of NTD births.     

Auditory temporal processing deficits in children with periventricular brain injury

The present study investigated whether auditory temporal processing deficits are related to the presence and/or the severity of periventricular brain injury and the reading difficulties experienced by extremely low birthweight (ELBW: birthweight <1000 g) children. Results indicate that ELBW children with mild or severe brain lesions obtained significantly lower scores on a test requiring auditory temporal order judgments than ELBW children without periventricular brain injury or children who were full-term. Structural equation modeling indicated that a model in which auditory temporal processing deficits predicted speech sound discrimination and phonological processing ability provided a better fit for the data than did a second model, which hypothesized that auditory temporal processing deficits are associated with poor reading abilities through a working memory deficit. These findings suggest that an impairment in auditory temporal processing may contribute to the reading difficulties experienced by ELBW children.     

The extent of working memory deficits associated with Williams syndrome: exploration of verbal and spatial domains and executively controlled processes

The present study investigated verbal and spatial working memory (WM) functioning in individuals with the neuro-developmental disorder Williams syndrome (WS) using WM component tasks. While there is strong evidence of WM impairments in WS, previous research has focused on short-term memory and has neglected assessment of executive components of WM. There is a particular lack of consensus concerning the profile of verbal WM functioning in WS. Here, WS participants were compared to typically developing participants matched for (1) verbal ability and (2) spatial ability (N = 14 in each of the 3 groups). Individuals with WS were impaired on verbal WM tasks, both those involving short-term maintenance of information and executive manipulation, in comparison to verbal-matched controls. Surprisingly, individuals with WS were not impaired on a spatial task assessing short-term maintenance of information in memory (remembering spatial locations) compared to spatial-matched controls. They were, however, impaired on a spatial executive WM task requiring the manipulation of spatial information in memory. The present study suggests that individuals with WS show WM impairments that extend to both verbal and spatial domains, although spatial deficits are selective to executive aspects of WM function.     

Focused search of semantic cases in question answering

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that people can execute focused searches of semantic cases when answering questions about complex facts, such as “the teacher watered the peas, the corn, and the lettuce with the hose.” In Experiment 1, answer time varied mainly with the number of concepts in the relevant or focused case, supporting the hypothesis. Experiment 2 indicated that the irrelevant case undergoes some processing. Experiment 3 confirmed that search in Experiments 1 and 2 focused on semantic cases rather than on taxonomic categories. It is proposed that focused memory search has a high probability of retrieving the relevant case and a low probability of retrieving the irrelevant case. In the latter event, the irrelevant concepts receive full processing.     

The Question of Higher Education for the Blind

Building on the theory of reasoned action (I. Ajzen & M. Fishbein, 1973, 1980; M. Fishbein & I. Ajzen, 1975) and expectancy theory, the authors examined the mediating role of alcohol expectancies in adolescent drinking behaviors by testing whether alcohol expectancy outcomes and valuations (the extent to which these outcomes are perceived as good or bad) mediate the association between peer influences and lifetime alcohol use. Early adolescents (N = 904) from 2 public middle schools in western Michigan completed a battery of questionnaires. Overall, results showed that alcohol expectancies and valuations partially mediated the relations between peer influences (peer use and peer approval) and lifetime alcohol use. The findings suggest that associating with peers who are perceived as using alcohol and approving of drinking may influence adolescents’ alcohol expectancies. The authors briefly discuss future research directions and implications for prevention.     

Executive functions in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Executive dysfunction is a characteristic impairment of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However whether such deficits are related to autism per se, or to associated intellectual disability is unclear. This paper examines executive functions in a group of children with ASD (N = 54, all IQ?70) in relation to a typically developing control group individually matched on the basis of age, gender, IQ and vocabulary. Significant impairments in the inhibition of prepotent responses (Stroop, Junior Hayling Test) and planning (Tower of London) were reported for children with ASD, with preserved performance for mental flexibility (Wisconsin Card Sorting Task) and generativity (Verbal Fluency). Atypical age-related patterns of performance were reported on tasks tapping response inhibition and self-monitoring for children with ASD compared to controls. The disparity between these and previous research findings are discussed. A multidimensional notion of executive functions is proposed, with difficulties in planning, the inhibition of prepotent responses and self-monitoring reflecting characteristic features of ASD that are independent of IQ and verbal ability, and relatively stable across the childhood years.     

Error detection and posterror behavior in depressed undergraduates

This study examined the influence of depression on error-monitoring and behavioral compensation after errors, two important aspects of cognitive control. Undergraduates differing in self-reported depression levels completed a modified Stroop task while error-related scalp potentials were recorded. Behaviorally, participants with higher depression scores were disproportionately slower and less accurate after errors in a task condition that included negative emotional words. Physiological results indicated that the amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe), two indices of error detection, were not correlated with depression score. ERN amplitudes predicted behavioral slowdown after errors, but only among more depressed participants in the negative-word condition. Together, the results imply that depression is associated not with an error detection deficit, but rather with alterations in subsequent performance changes, once errors have been identified.     

Anxiety and error monitoring: Increased error sensitivity or altered expectations?

This study tested the prediction that the error-related negativity (ERN), a physiological measure of error monitoring, would be enhanced in anxious individuals, particularly in conditions with threatening cues. Participants made gender judgments about faces whose expressions were either happy, angry, or neutral. Replicating prior studies, midline scalp negativities were greater following errors than following correct responses. In addition, state anxiety interacted with facial expression to predict ERN amplitudes. Counter to predictions, participants high in state anxiety displayed smaller ERNs for angry-face blocks and larger ERNs for happy-face blocks, compared to less anxious participants. These results are inconsistent with the simple notion that anxiety enhances error sensitivity globally. Rather, we interpret the findings within an expectancy violation framework, in which anxious participants have altered expectations for success and failure in the context of happy and angry facial cues, with greater ERN amplitudes when expectations are violated.     

Development of a measure of the experience of being bullied in youth

The Personal Experiences Checklist (PECK) was developed to provide a multidimensional assessment of a young person's personal experience of being bullied that covered the full range of bullying behaviors, including covert relational forms of bullying and cyber bullying. A sample of 647 school children were used to develop the scale, and a 2nd sample of 218 children completed the PECK and a battery of measures of bullying (including peer nomination), anxiety, depression, and self-esteem, to provide validity evidence. Test-retest reliability was assessed in a further sample of 78 students. Four factors emerged from a principal axis factoring consistent with the domains of relational-verbal bullying, cyber bullying, physical bullying, and bullying based on culture and were confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis. The data also supported a higher order bullying factor with direct effects on these 4 factors. All PECK scales showed good to excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α range = .78-.91) and adequate test-retest reliability (range r = .61-.86). Most, but not all, expected relations were found with alternative methods of assessing bullying and measures of psychopathology. Taken together, the PECK provides a promising comprehensive and behaviorally focused dimensional measure of bullying.